Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

- Oh no.

Shit.

Fuck.

So what's going on with the festival tour?

We're supposed to hear the good word soon, right?

- Yep.

Anytime now.

[contemplative music]

- Shit.

This time's gotta be the charm, right?

- Maybe.

- [Man] Son of a bitch.

- Good game man.

- Man, that would be nice.

Game changer, right?

- How are we on those funding sources?

- Oh, my people?

I've got so many people right now,

they've got people who've got people.

I got this one guy, he's like an Arab Prince,

he wants to make his wife a movie star.

I got this other guy Mr. Chow.

And I'm working him.

He owns a few casinos.

And you know about my gambling problem.

- Right.

- But, he wants to shoot the shit in China.

- That's not so bad.

- In Chinese.

- Oh.

- Unless, what would that make that?

A Spaghetti Eastern.

- Right.

- I'm working it, baby.

Doing what I do, for you.

- For you too.

Gonna head home and shower.

- When have I not come through?

- Come through again.

- Gotcha, Big Genie.

[dramatic music]

[birds singing]

[calm music]

- Hi, Louis.

Hey buddy, come here.

Did you miss me?

Come here.

Come here.

Come here, hi buddy.

Oh, good boy.

Good boy.

Oh, you good boy.

Hi, hi.

Let's go say hi to your brother.

Hey, Jax.

[calm music]

[dramatic music]

I can't believe it's 17 years this month.

I just wanna make him proud, you know?

If I could become a great filmmaker.

Make our name count.

Maybe he died for a reason.

But I keep fucking it up.

- Yuji?

Yuji, hello?

- Hold on.

I'm in deep thought.

Okay, pull my finger.

Careful, it's loaded.

- So?

- So I'm just thinking about career moves.

- Ah, you finished Nick's new script?

- Yeah, it's great.

Got me wanting to scratch that itch again.

Is that wrong of me?

- No.

And it's not wrong for you to wanna back the film either.

- It's a lot of money for us.

- But it'll be worth it.

- Yeah.

What's money when you're young and don't have any?

- Well, at least one of us is.

- Hey, just because you beat me up here?

[giggles]

[contemplative music]

[dramatic music]

- It's way over your guys' head.

I'll tell you that right now.

Hey, what's up, dude?

- Hey, guys.

Sorry I'm late.

- That is okay because we are used to it.

- The boss has arrived.

- Here you go.

Guinness.

Daiquiri for the princess.

Anything for you, sweetie?

- Uh, up, covered.

- Oh, so thoughtful.

- Producing.

- Earning those stripes.

- Brown noser.

- You guys wanna share a platter of Kalua pig nachos?

- Nachos. - Sound good?

- [Guys] Yeah sign me up.

- [Producer] Nachos.

Yeah, I want some.

- And camera man?

- Mac and Jack, please.

- You got it.

- I just love that you guys always have matching drinks.

- So Brokeback.

- [Both] It's healthier.

- Whoa.

Chorus.

[sighing]

- So we did not get in.

[groaning]

- Yep.

I figured, since you didn't come running in here

screaming like a little school girl.

- Right.

- What did they say?

- Same shit, different submission, man.

I got three of the exact same rejection emails saved.

- Those are good movies.

- Not good enough, I guess.

- Nah man, they're good.

Those are good fucking movies, dude.

- People keep saying how great these movies are.

They keep throwing out this hyperbole

but if the movies were that great,

would we be sitting here wondering what the hell happened

after being rejected yet again?

I think we made something that our audience will like.

It's just not A-list festival good.

- I just don't fucking get it, you know?

We got the names, we got the money.

We got people watching it, we get all these likes.

I've been getting messages about Matt's Chance

and that was like four years ago.

- The quality of the movies is not the problem.

- It's part of the problem.

- Yeah but is it wrong for people to like our work?

I don't think so.

If they like it then they like it.

- Well it's really had to appreciate that

when we keep hitting this brick wall.

All the positive feedback in the world

doesn't change the reality that we're just

not cracking through to the A-list.

It's like a mother who holds her child to the sky

like he's Michael Jordan because the little shrimp

scored six points in the weekend basketball game.

- Good old celebration of mediocrity at its finest.

- Right and is that real?

Does that help us?

I'm just saying, if the movies were that good,

the industry insiders

would be agreeing with us.

- Sounds like we might be fighting some politics too.

- Yeah, politics are the problem.

[laughing]

We're just not making the movies

that the big A-list festivals wanna see.

You know, it's like we haven't cracked the code.

- No, I don't buy that, I don't.

I refuse to believe that if we made

the best indie genre movie that the festivals

would not recognize that.

- We'll get there.

- Yeah well most people don't get

the chance to direct one feature.

I've directed four.

Five if you count the one that got me into USC.

- Three of those are marketable.

Sellable.

- I just keep getting these once in a lifetime opportunities

and it's back to square one again.

I'm still on the outside looking in.

- Maybe those A-list festivals

aren't what we should be focusing on.

- What are you talking about?

That's exactly what we should be focusing on.

That's where the big heavy hitters are.

That's the big distribution sales.

That's the only thing that we should be focusing on.

- But, it's not the only way

to be successful in this business.

I mean look at the car you drive.

- Really dude?

Do you think he bought that straight up cash?

He's leasing that thing.

It's an image thing.

It builds confidence.

And that confidence is what breeds success.

- Look, I wanna tell stories to the world

and I'm not there.

And if getting there means getting into an A-list festival,

then I gotta think hard about what I'm doing wrong.

- Yeah, I mean the reality is it doesn't matter

if this movie makes money or it doesn't.

The problem is the people at the top ain't seeing it.

- Yeah well, we're outsiders here, for sure.

And there are really only two ways

for outsiders to make it in this business.

Either we raise enough money to land a giant movie star

or we blow up on the festival circuit with a little movie.

Anything else is just working to survive

and that's not the dream.

- So what now?

Try for the next big festival?

- Pointless.

- Yeah I mean if you don't get into one

you don't get into any of them.

- What about a B festival tour?

Like we did with Matt's Chance.

We raked in what, half a dozen

best picture awards on that tour?

- Yeah, we got a bunch of acting awards

and Julien-K got the best score,

but I mean did that make the movie more successful?

I think not.

- I don't even know if a B festival

would want Beta Test at this point.

I mean it's an indie action movie.

It's in a sub-genre of little movies

that's predominantly crap.

- But obviously we don't just give up on it.

- No, it can still help us if we push.

It's jut not gonna change the game.

[sighing]

- So what's our angle then?

- Well what do you think of

when you think of indie action movies?

What comes to mind?

- Seagal.

Van Damme.

Lundgren.

- Right.

All those shitty movies that you skip over on Netflix.

If anything,

maybe we made a movie that's a step above those.

- Beta Test is definitely a step above those.

It had a six minute long take fight scene in it.

- Six minutes, six seconds and two frames.

- Thank you.

- Eat that, "Old Boy."

- Are you knocking the Boy?

Don't knock the Old Boy.

- Look, I do think it has some cool stuff, alright.

It's got the 90's style video game sequences

and themes of corporate greed and false flag operations.

Violence in media.

Some of that's bound to stick with some people, right?

- Maybe we just needed a title card

at the beginning that said,

"The following is an homage to 90's action movies.

"It's supposed to be a little cheesy, y'all."

[laughing]

- Might not've been a bad idea.

I mean, most people aren't looking for depth or satire

in their shitty action movies.

They might not even get it if it sat on their faces.

And the high brow movie fans probably

wouldn't be choosing to watch that anyways.

They'd be watching the new Gus Van Sant flick.

- Right.

So we made a weird limbo movie.

- Yeah.

I always pictured it as Mario trying to save

Princess Peach from Bowser's castle.

- Holy shit.

I never realized that until just now.

- Thank you, Scott.

- So what's the plan?

- AFM.

- American? - American Film Market.

We're gonna sell thus puppy and land ourselves

a solid distribution deal

and hopefully a limited theatrical release

that'll promote the home video release

and that'll be that.

Hopefully people find it.

- Yeah, that'll be that, like it's no big deal.

- Well, we still didn't get into an A-list festival.

And we still don't have an A-list cast to sell it on.

Ultimately, Beta Test can only roll us into the next one.

That's all it can ever be.

- Oh, yes.

- Nacho time, boys.

- Nice.

Thank you.

- Come on, guys, get in there.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Anything else I can get you?

- I'm definitely gonna need one more of these.

- Make that a double.

- I think we're good over here.

- [Waitress] Okay.

- Now, Scott,

this, right here,

this is what we call a continuity nightmare.

- Look at all that.

- So any idea what's next?

- [Nicholas] Yeah.

I think so.

- What do you mean, think so?

Huh?

- I think it's time for The Red Vision.

- Yeah.

- That's the horror movie, right?

- Simplifying it a little bit but yeah.

- I suspect heavy makeup effects will be needed?

- Heavy everything, man.

Let's make this the indie genre movie

the industry can not ignore.

- We need to.

- Yeah.

- How are we on financing for that?

- We just landed a new investor today, actually,

and how can you eat and talk and film?

- I'll show you.

Yummy.

- So we are green light then?

- We are go mission.

- Yeah. - Nice.

- Fuckin-A, man, that's awesome.

- And who?

[phone chiming]

- [Edi] Oh, cinematic.

- Hey.

Yeah, we're inside.

Just look for the sausage fest of filmmakers.

- Oh yeah, we should think about diversifying, shouldn't we?

- [Scott] I'm bald.

- I'm Mexican.

- Oh yeah.

I forgot about little Zorro over here.

- Good ref.

- So who is it?

The investor.

- Oh.

I'll give you a hint.

- Yuji.

- How the hell did you?

Yeah. - It was Yuji.

[laughing]

Your twists are obvious, man.

- So the villain from Karate Kid II

is backing The Red Vision.

- It's one last hoorah.

I think that's pretty poetic.

- That's exactly what I said.

- Where's Sean, by the way?

- Oh, I think he had an audition.

He said he was gonna pop by before we wrapped up.

Edi, you wanna?

- I'm already on it.

- Together we will find them.

The aliens are real.

Together we will find them.

- The aliens are real.

Together we'll find them.

- The aliens are real.

Together we will find them.

The aliens are real.

Together we will find them.

- The aliens are real.

The aliens are real.

- Together, we'll find them.

[phone chiming]

- [Gray Shirt] Together we'll find them.

- [Red Shirt] The aliens are real.

Together we will find them.

- [Blue Shirt] The aliens are real.

Together we'll find them.

- The aliens are real.

The aliens are real.

[calm music]

- Hi, I'm Sean Ferguson

and I'll be reading for the part of Alien Hunter.

- Alright, impress me, baby.

- Alright.

[clearing throat]

The aliens are real

and together, we will--

- Nah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

- I didn't know Yuji had that kind of cash.

I mean, I know he's got the restaurant and everything

but I didn't know he was a playa.

- Yeah, he said he was selling his stake

in a company he invested in, and putting it in the movie.

- No shit.

- Hey guys, how's it going?

- Hey, Yuji.

- Hey, Yuji.

Hey, it's my baby boy, Yuji.

How're you doing?

I miss you so much.

I need you.

[laughing]

- So how's the food?

- So good.

- Awesome.

Hey, Erik, nice work on the FX makeup.

- You saw the cut?

- Oh yeah, it's awesome, dude.

- So Yuji just agreed to co-star

as the ghost of our main character's deceased father.

- Oh.

- In The Red Vision.

When I told him the situation,

he stepped up in a big way to help us bring it to life.

- You got Angie to that for that.

She said, "Go big or go home."

- Well, thank you, Angie.

We'll take it.

- So you get to be Captain Planet?

- Finally time to play the hero.

Not that I don't love playing the bad guys.

- [Edi] Oh, we know it.

- Can I get you anything?

- Oh no, I'm good.

I'm just saying hi to the boys.

- Have a drink with us.

- Hey.

Mr. Healthy doesn't drink, dude.

- Actually, can we get the check?

- Come on, guys.

Your money's paper here.

Especially today.

I got it.

- Thanks, Yuji.

- I love free food.

[laughing]

- Well, if you need anything else let me know.

I'll be in my office.

Nick I will see you at the fitting?

You got a lot of work to do.

- Yes we do.

I'll see you then.

- Alright, see you guys.

- Bye, Yuji.

- Thanks for the money.

- Thanks for the money?

- What?

- I'll always remember

getting to kick his ass in Beta Test.

- Oh, Scott,

like the tissue.

Our favorite little starlet.

- That's DP starlet to you.

- Well, at least now we know your porn name.

[laughing]

- Whatever.

- Wow, so, Yuji's really pulling in

that much for the next one?

- I think it's like Jay said.

He wants one more shot to be the star.

- Who wouldn't?

- Yeah and Karate Kid II was a long time ago.

He's had a great career.

But nothing has really hit quite as hard

as that first big break, you know?

- Works for me.

- Everything works for you.

- I'm easy to please.

- We love you that way.

- This is just beautiful stuff, guys.

[chuckling]

- Hey, will you take a picture of us?

- Sure.

- Awesome.

Make sure you get Jay's good side, please.

- What side is that again?

[laughing]

- Okay, ready?

- [Sean] Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.

- Oh my gosh, hurry up, actor.

- Come on.

- Let's go.

- Alright.

Hopefully that's good enough for a bunch of filmmakers.

- Thank you.

Alright, guys.

Let's make a movie.

- We're making a movie?

[groaning]

What, did we get in?

[groaning]

[contemplative music]

- One, two, three, four.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Wait, wait, wait.

It's The Red Vision not Red Vision.

It's about the beautiful redheaded medium.

It's about her gift and her curse.

It's intimate.

It's about her.

The car tumbles and crashes.

[laughing]

The father arrives.

That is our hero moment.

That's the moment where we go big

and that's the moment the whole movie comes full circle.

This where the movie becomes a superhero.

You ready?

- Yes, sir.

- Just don't do anything I would do.

- Yeah, don't read the prose out loud.

- Hey.

That was my first audition.

That was one time.

- Alright, man, whenever you're ready.

- So, I think the skin should be a little more reptilian.

Snake-like, almost.

- She's gonna be one mean mama demon.

- Yeah, I want it to be scary but grounded.

Remember we're doing Insidious meets Ghost

meets Unbreakable.

So I want it to exist in our world, you know?

- Horror.

Romance.

Superhero origin.

Check.

[calm music]

- Hey, Yuji.

- Hey Nick, how are things?

- Oh, good.

I just wanted to check in on that investment.

It's been about a week since I've heard anything

and I just wanted to make sure everything's on track.

- Yeah.

I'm working on it.

- Okay.

Are there any problems?

- No, no, I'm just sorting everything out.

- Any idea when we might have the funds available?

I'm only asking because the first 25K you gave us

is about out now.

- I'll send it to you as soon as it comes in.

- Sure.

Thanks, Yuji.

- No worries.

Hey, I'll see you at the fitting tomorrow, right?

- Yeah, see you then.

- Alright, buh-bye.

[phone chiming]

- [Jay] Hey.

- Hey, Jay, what's up?

- Yeah, I just wanted to clarify a couple things

before I send off this order here for hard drives.

- Oh.

Okay, sure.

- So what're we thinking?

100, 120 minute movie and a 21 day shoot, right?

- Yeah, sounds about right.

- Shooting in 4K?

- Maybe 6K.

- Shit.

Alright.

Bigger hard drive coming up.

- Shoot in 6K, edit on a 4K timeline.

So we can punch in on some shots

and not lose any quality, reframe, you know?

- Yup, I'm totally with you.

Okay, so I'm putting in this order then?

[phone buzzing]

- Oh shit, Jay, can you hold on for a sec?

I gotta take care of this.

- Sure thing.

- Hey, boss, just calling you back.

- Give me some good news.

- Oh, the good news, yeah.

Well, the good news is it only took me 25 minutes

to get my coffee today as opposed to the usual 30

and the bad news is my patience is really running out

for the soccer moms in front of me always complaining

about not enough whipped cream.

Why don't they just carry a can of Ready-Whip

and save us all a little pain?

- That's not exactly the good news I was looking for.

What's going on with those money people you're working?

I'm just getting a little nervous

with our major investors here and

we could use some backup, you know?

- Right, it's coming, man.

I'm still massaging Mr. Chow.

Mr. Arabic Prince well,

he decided to finance a new movie at Sony instead.

- Yeah, I guess I would too.

- Hey, Big Genie,

we'll get there.

But, for right now, I'm gonna focus on getting off the phone

because apparently I'm upsetting my elevator companion.

So sorry.

Maybe I'll ask her out and make it real awkward.

- Yeah, and when she turns you down

you can just give her my number.

- Hey, I got a big hotshot movie director on the phone.

Super hottie.

Want me to give you his number?

- No, wait, what?

No, no, no, I was just kidding.

Just let me know when you get a bite, alright?

- Yeah, I don't think she's buying it.

Alright, will do, boss.

- [Jay] Hola.

- Hey, sorry about that.

- No worries, everything going well?

- Yeah, yeah, but could you hold on

a couple days for that order?

I just am waiting for some extra funds to come in.

And I just don't want you to be on the line for anything.

- Oh, okay.

Are you sure?

- Yeah, just would rather be safe.

It's just a few more days.

- Alright then.

I will await your word.

Talk to you soon.

- Yeah, the budget's real tight on this, man,

so no one's gonna be getting a trailer.

Maybe we can set her up in a private office or something.

Or maybe a kitchen.

- [Gordon] Oh, she's not gonna like that.

- It'll be a nice kitchen.

We'll give her some wifi or something.

- [Gordon] What about a hotel?

Can we go five stars?

- Yeah, I'm sure we can make that work.

Yeah, let me just confer with the director

and I'll get back to you on that.

[phone buzzing]

Hey, Gordon, I got somebody on the other line.

I gotta get back to you.

I'll update you in the morning, okay?

- [Gordon] Sure.

- Okay, bye.

Hello?

- [Woman On Phone] Hello, is this Edi Zanid-d-d--

- Zanihdackeeye.

- [Woman On Phone] Right.

Edi Zani-datch-iyuh.

- Yes.

- [Woman On Phone] We're just calling to follow up

about the e-mail we sent out

about the job interview for this Thursday.

- Oh, right.

- [Woman On Phone] Can we confirm you for 9:00 a.m?

It's our only spot left, I'm afraid.

- Yeah, put me down for 9:00 a.m.

- [Woman On Phone] Okay, great.

We'll see you on Thursday at nine o'clock.

- Thanks.

[horn honks]

- Hey, buddy.

- Hey.

- How's it all going?

- Working hard.

- Yeah?

So what's the scoop?

- Alright.

You got the part.

- Seriously?

- But.

- Yeah?

- You gotta work your ass off for me, man.

You gotta bring your A-game.

- Yeah, of course I will, man.

- This movie is too important, man.

You gotta shine in this.

- Don't worry.

- Like you haven't.

- I get it.

- Every performance has to be stellar.

- I'm not gonna let you down.

- Or yourself.

- Or myself.

- Alright.

Welcome to the team.

- Yes.

Awesome.

Thank you.

- You're welcome.

Hey, where you going?

You're not gonna hang out with me?

- Well, I thought I was just coming to--

- I'm just kidding dude I'm busy, go.

- Alright.

See you later buddy.

- See ya.

- Actually, do you mind if I talk to you about something?

- Yeah sure.

What's up?

- I want you to know that I am stoked about this.

But it just reminds me that outside your movies,

I can't seem to land a good agent or auditions.

What if I'm just not supposed to make it?

Am I just kidding myself?

[sighing]

I don't know if it's my delivery

because I know I can act.

I'm just not getting any younger, man.

- I feel like I say the same thing over and over.

You gotta get back into classes

and you gotta focus.

Work on your craft.

And take the advice I give to every actor trying to make it.

You've gotta become a producer, man.

This is a producer's industry now.

Nothing is just gonna come to you today.

Not unless you're down in LA

networking your way up the chain.

If you wanna be that movie star,

if you wanna be that lead,

you gotta make it happen for yourself.

So while you're waiting for that audition of a lifetime,

why not work on putting something together?

Something small.

Something that you can star in.

That showcases you.

Get it into some film festivals.

- I wouldn't even know where to start.

- Dude, come up with an idea.

Write a script.

Find money.

Ask friends or family

or people that wanna see you succeed.

You ever hear the story about how Vin Diesel did it?

- [Sean] Yeah wasn't it that he did a telemarketing job?

- [Nick] Yep.

- [Sean] And then he used that money

to put some little film together.

- Yep, exactly, right.

And that little film got into a big film festival.

Steven Spielberg saw it.

Cast him in Saving Private Ryan.

- Wow.

- The rest is history.

You only need one success to turn everything around

and, hey man, I'm in the same boat with you.

You think I don't wonder what it would be like

if I don't make it?

We're in this together, man.

We just gotta stay positive and do the work, alright?

- I'm sorry.

I was wondering if you could spare anything

for someone who's struggling.

My son is diabetic and I can't afford his medication.

I work so hard and I can't make enough

to take care of my boy.

He's all I have in this world.

Can you please help me?

Please, sir.

- Yeah, here, I got a couple bucks for you, buddy.

- [Father] Thank you.

- Hold on, hold on.

- So you have a job,

you just can't make ends meet, is that right?

- Yes, sir.

It's just hard for us right now.

- Where do you work?

- I work at a store.

- What store?

You don't have a job, do you?

You just make all your money begging people.

- I do what I have to, alright?

- Do you even have a son?

- Here.

Just don't go spending it all on booze.

- Thanks.

- You're a good actor, man.

Anyone tell you that before?

- No.

I just do what I have to, alright?

- Well, why don't you do something good for that money?

Why not be entertaining?

You can try.

Here.

Okay?

It's the number for a friend of mine.

It's a casting agent.

We already know you can perform,

so give it a shot.

- Thank you.

- So what do you think?

- What do I think?

- [Nick] Yeah.

- I think you're supposed to be my motivational asshole

and not going around increasing my competition in this town.

- If you were half as dedicated as that guy,

you'd be an Oscar nominee by now.

[laughing]

- Hi, Scott.

- Hey.

- Hey.

- I heard you guys were starting up a new movie.

- Yeah, that's the plan.

Just checking out some lenses in here.

- We got this new set of lenses over here, actually.

Supposed to be pretty good.

- Oh, awesome.

- I'm gonna let you poke around a bit, alright?

- Cool, thanks.

- You got it.

You know, actually, I hate to bring this up

but there's still three invoices

that you haven't paid for old rentals.

- Yeah, I know.

I'm trying.

I had some clients stiff me.

- Trust me, I know how it is, alright?

But if you guys are planning to rent for this next show,

I think we gotta get those squared away beforehand, okay?

- Okay.

Totally understand.

- Alright.

- And I'll see if production can advance me something.

- What's the name of the movie?

- The Red Vision.

- Ooh.

- Yeah, it's a horror flick.

- Oh, fun.

- Yeah.

- You know, I'll be first in line to see it.

- Awesome.

You'll have to check out Beta Test too,

once we get the premiere set up.

- I think I will.

Thanks, Scott.

- Yeah.

- Let me know if you need anything, okay?

- Thank you.

Appreciate it.

- Hey what up man?

- Hey hold still big guy.

- Hey make sure you add some padding down there.

Make it look like he has a, you know.

- Yeah yeah real funny.

Hey I haven't heard a complaint yet.

- I'll file mine later.

- Good idea.

Hey Yuji.

- Hey Nick.

- How's everything going?

- All good.

- Good.

Not sure about that shirt though.

- Oh.

- It's a little.

- It's a little.

- Willy Wonka.

- Right.

- Yeah.

Hey could we get a shirt that's a little less Willy Wonka?

- As you wish sire.

- Wonderful.

- Come on man help me out.

Help me out dude.

Yeah that's when everyone's gonna be there.

Well let me.

It's happening.

Yep 15 days just for her.

In and out three weeks.

Cool alright have her get the draft

and I'll get back to you okay.

Damn unions.

Fuckin' hate 'em, man, here we go.

Hey this is Edi.

Yep we want a modified low budget.

Well if you could help me out

with that security bond that'd be great

because I'd like to lower that.

- This is it man.

This is exactly what I was talking about.

Crazy intersection right?

- Yeah.

- Make sure you get a good shot of it.

- Hey Nick do you mind if I ask you something?

- Shoot.

- It's just that

I've gotten behind on a couple of bills

and I was just wondering when you're gonna

be paying us for prep.

- Oh any day man, any day.

We're just waiting on a new installment from Yuji.

It's coming.

- I hope so.

- Yeah it's coming.

It's coming don't worry.

So this is where it happens.

This is where we do the long take car chase

that beats the record that we set with Beta Test.

This is where the heroes make their stand.

- It's gonna be expensive.

- We'll make it happen.

[contemplative music]

- Hey did you get that email from your agent?

- What?

- Your agent.

- Oh, right.

I gotta send him a commission check.

- Are you okay?

- Yeah.

I'm fine thanks.

- Don't stress, everything will work out.

- Yeah.

[phone ringing]

Hello?

- [Man On Phone] Hey Yuji how are you?

- Good so what's the scoop?

Can we pull this thing off or what?

- [Man On Phone] Look I won't beat around the bush here.

That last deal we all agreed to make,

it's turning a bit south.

- How far south are we talking about?

Last I heard it was just a delay.

- [Man On Phone] No word yet on how bad it will hit us

but I wanted you to know, if you sell your stake now,

you won't capitalize like we thought, okay?

Sorry for the bad news.

We're trying to salvage it.

- Well try harder!

Fuck!

- Alright man you asked for my opinion.

I'm just giving it to you.

- No no no no.

Who knows you could've gone on to do other great things.

- Let other men do other great things.

I think I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

- Yeah I mean maybe it's not a perfect movie but...

- Have you seen the little cult following it has online?

- No more questions, no more beliefs.

- The Red Vision will be better.

- And all because I couldn't see down that road.

- Bro, some guy threw like a whole burger away.

Jackpot.

Bro,

some guy threw like a whole burger away.

Jackpot.

Come on.

Come on you got this Sean.

Who are you kidding?

You know there's no way you're gonna pull this off.

No.

One more time.

- Here you go.

[upbeat music]

- Next up we have local favorite

and Giggles Thunderdome champion, Edi Z.

[people cheering]

- Thanks a lot, man.

Thank you, buddy.

Hey.

Alright, what's up?

How're you guys doing today, huh?

[crowd applauding]

Good good, it's awesome.

I'm doing alright you know?

I feel like the universe is telling me I'm doing it wrong.

The other day I was at the grocery store

and I overheard this little girl.

She's screaming at her mom.

She's yelling at her.

She's like, Mom, Mom, Mommy, Mom.

[crowd laughing]

I want a banana.

I want a banana.

Mommy, I want a banana.

Like the mom couldn't take it anymore and she's like,

No okay.

You can't have a banana.

I was like holy crap.

You know because I don't have a kid or anything like that.

But I was thinking if I did have a kid,

I'd love to have a kid

that wanted to eat healthy food you know?

So that pissed me off.

That made me angry.

So when the mom wasn't looking I gave the kid a banana.

Yeah I go here you go eat it

real quick before your mom sees.

Eat it eat it.

And let me tell you what,

that was probably the fastest,

most violent allergic reaction

I've ever seen in my entire life yeah.

[people laughing]

[cheering]

[contemplative music]

[phone buzzing]

[calm music]

- Hey, what's up, man?

Thanks for coming.

- Hey I needed a drink anyway.

- What can I get you?

- Yeah I'll do a Basil Hayden straight up.

- Okay.

You good?

- I'm good thanks.

- [Bartender] Alright be right back.

- Man you really are committed.

- Totally.

I wish I had discovered this sooner.

This shit's amazing.

- What is this, a video diary?

- You never know.

What's up man, how are you?

[sighing]

[knocking on door]

- Hey man.

- Hey hey.

- Come on in.

I thought you had a show tonight.

What's up?

- Yeah I did.

Wrapped up a bit ago.

- You just weren't feeling like the after party or what?

- Nah.

Just wanted to chat with my best buddy.

- You hungry?

- Yeah Jesus what is that smell?

- This is just a little Hungarian deliciousness.

- Smells like my mom's Romanian deliciousness.

- Chicken Paprikash.

- Oh.

Thanks dude.

- Food cousins.

[laughing]

What's up?

- Acting's a tough business bro.

There's so much competition out there.

- Yeah.

But when I walk into these auditions

I feel like I can own these guys.

- Yeah I was there too.

You know Nick once told me

that whenever he walks into a room of filmmakers,

he assumes that he's the least talented one there.

- Really?

- Yeah.

That's exactly how I responded too.

Then I got it.

It drives him to be his best

knowing that there are others out there

that are smarter, more talented or creative or whatever.

That just pushes him that much harder

to be a better filmmaker.

I learned a lot from that.

It hasn't helped me get any roles but.

[laughing]

But it did make me realize I need to step up

and get back somehow.

- So how are things going with the movie?

- Which movie?

[chuckling]

- I guess all of them.

- Well things are about set for the Beta Test premiere.

- Oh sweet.

Man I still can't believe we got such

an awesome indie release for that.

[groaning]

Opening nationwide, 20 screens.

Next week.

So crazy.

- Yeah but it's not gonna make much money though you know?

- Yeah.

- We just don't have the marketing budget

that like a big festival sale would've gotten us.

- [Edi] Well maybe Red Vision will be the one.

- Hope so.

- So we on track with that?

- Oh yeah yeah.

Yuji's gonna give us a new installment any day.

- Fuck it.

I just need this next one.

I need to bring it.

- And you will.

Just work your ass off.

More than I did.

- So what made you choose this?

- Look at Edi.

Started off doing standup comedy

and then with Nick's films he got into acting and writing.

He never even thought about being a producer

until he saw the gap.

- The gap?

- Nick needed someone he could count on.

Someone he could trust.

Edi saw that.

So he stepped up whether it made him money or not.

- And you saw a gap.

- Look at all the DPs and camera guys

that have come and gone over these movies.

I never thought I would love it this much

but there is something so special about capturing a moment.

It's opened up a whole new door for me.

I don't know where I'll be in a few years.

Maybe even producing too.

But for now, this feels right.

So I'm stepping it up and I'm giving back.

I'll tell you Nick can be a real pain in my ass sometimes.

[laughing]

- I like to call him our motivational asshole.

- Exactly.

But I'll tell you one thing.

At the end of the day,

I know he's got my back.

- So is the movie all you wanted to talk to me about?

- Well sorta.

My show was kinda weird tonight.

- Oh yeah?

- Yeah I had this moment.

Like what the hell am I doing you know?

- Like it's smalltime?

- Yeah.

Exactly.

- Yeah I get that.

- Yeah.

- I feel the same way whenever

anyone tells me I'm making it.

They don't see behind the curtain,

they don't know what we're going through.

- Right.

So.

I've just been thinking a lot about all this.

I just don't wanna be wasting my time you know?

I'm really not making a lot of money on this yet.

Not enough to sustain a solid life.

It's so hard to get back up movie

after movie with no real idea in sight

if anything's really gonna change you know?

- Yeah I do.

- I just need to make a choice at some point.

Do I keep going hoping?

Or do I just like buckle down and get a real job?

- I've been thinking about it too.

In my core

I know it's what I wanna do.

But is it what I should do?

Every time I think I have the right script

I get proven wrong.

I take one step forward and two back every time.

And every time I feel like I'm letting my dad down.

I don't know where I go from here.

But I think it's different for you.

Probably for all the guys.

If someone told you tomorrow you're never gonna make it

you'd pick up and you'd start a regular life.

It would suck.

But you could do it.

Making movies is everything to me.

I don't think I could live that regular life.

I just would never be happy in it.

- I saw you read at the audition.

I think you have it.

I really do.

But you gotta continue to put in the work

and stay humble.

- So what you're telling me

I'm not the most talented guy in the room?

- Not looking like a roided out Eminem you're not.

- Oh nice.

Well look who's talking dickhead.

- Ouch.

Never heard that one before.

- I just need to see some strides.

- You do.

Back to the barber.

[laughing]

- Touche.

I want this.

But I don't wanna be five to 10 years down the road

and not be successful at this either.

- No man, no.

You are doing what you're supposed to be doing.

No one's gonna disagree with that.

It's just, I'm not you man.

We are all here to support you.

- But I feel the weight.

Whenever I don't deliver on one of these movies,

I know I'm letting you down and everyone else too.

Right now I'm the reason

you're even thinking about a regular job.

I wish I knew the next one

was gonna be the right one but I don't.

And yeah, the movies do get better.

I learn from mistakes.

But it's not enough.

Not good enough.

Obviously.

- Even more motivation

to make this one the fucking one right?

[sighing]

- That next guy, he's gonna go six, 11 years

and he's gonna get the role that you coulda had.

I don't know how many times I didn't get the part

because I just didn't do the work.

Not anymore.

- Well.

Here's to team building.

To carpe diem.

- Who's Carpe Diem?

Joking.

Totally joking this time.

- So you can't make a good movie

and I can't make a living off producing.

God it sucks how interconnected our problems are.

- Fuck you.

[laughing]

- I'll cheers to that.

- Did you pick a suit out for next week?

- Shit.

[upbeat music]

[people cheering]

[horns honking]

[dramatic music]

[crowd cheering]

- Dad.

[suspenseful music]

- [Edi] Hey can we get some pictures here?

Let's do this.

- Alright let's do this.

- Hey look who's here it's Tami Stronach

from Never Ending Story.

Wow what're you doing here?

- Well I've recently gotten back into acting

and I'm doing some appearances.

But really Nick is friends with my publicist.

- Yeah.

- And he promised me a role in his

upcoming supernatural drama if I agree

to do the Q and A for Beta Test.

- You have to tell me what role are you gonna get?

- I don't know.

- Well at least you're gonna be

on the big screen that's cool.

- Yeah it'll be great I'm looking forward to it.

- Alright thanks Tami have fun tonight.

- Thank you.

[dramatic music]

[laughing]

- I know you're a big star.

Look right here, your name's right here.

Yuji Okumoto.

- Yeah but it should be over there.

- That's right.

- I'm kidding.

- So tell me a little bit about Beta Test.

- It's a video game come to life.

It stars Larenz Tate, Manu Bennett, Linden Ashby,

some guy named Yuji Okumoto.

[laughing]

- That would be you, a really big star.

- Oh yeah that's right that's me.

- Alright guys.

Let's enjoy this one.

[crowd cheering]

You guys ready to see a movie?

Alright let's go.

Woo.

[dramatic music]

- [Man In Film] Gotta find the manager.

Get the bags ready.

- [Woman In Film] What are you doing?

You're gonna get yourself killed.

- I need the keys right now.

- I don't have them.

They're in my desk.

It's over there.

- Well, there's two points for difficulty.

- That husband of yours

is a stubborn man.

- You've underestimated him.

He's a survivor.

- God that's what I love about you.

You're just so dramatic, you're just unpredictable.

[grunting]

[suspenseful music]

[gun firing]

[crowd applauding]

[punches landing]

[suspenseful music]

[crowd cheering]

- [Tami] Wow thanks guys

for showing us the film before its release.

- Well you guys are the first audience to see

our little homage to 90's action movies.

This is the world premiere.

[applauding]

- Does that mean we beta tested Beta Test?

[laughing]

Okay, so tell us a little bit about the release coming up

and where Beta Test fits in to the larger market.

- Edi, you wanna hop in?

I'm still recovering from that one.

- [Edi] Yeah, no problem.

- You know I mean if we did our job right

then hopefully we made an indie action movie

that's maybe a little bit better than the competition.

- And you did recently sign with a distributor, yeah?

So Beta Test will be hitting some theaters

and it'll be available on DVD and Blu Ray and VOD, right?

- 20 theaters nationwide.

It's so surreal to hear that out loud.

I know that Nick and all of us were shocked

when we got that call.

- Yeah I just didn't think a release

like this was gonna be possible

for a movie like "Beta Test", you know?

But I'm grateful to get the movie out there.

[applauding]

- So my next big question is piracy

and what is the reality there?

- Yeah that is a big one.

Piracy is rampant.

And with the industry and home video market

going completely digital

pirated copies of movies are online the day of release

sometimes sooner in full quality.

People have been pirating movies for years

but I think this is the tipping point.

Much like Napster and the advent of MP3s

signaled the downward spiral for the music industry,

the double edged sword of going digital

is how easily we're providing pirates

with full HD copies of our work right away.

I think it's gonna become pretty hard pretty soon

for filmmakers to make any money on their films

unless you're Star Wars

commanding audiences across the world

to see you in theaters or

unless you sell your film for seven figures

at a big film festival.

- So you're really worried about piracy.

This is a problem for the film industry.

- You know I think it's out of my hands but

it is what it is.

I wanna make as much money as I can for my investors

but I think the best case scenario I can hope

that the piracy doesn't impact sales on a broad scale

while maybe exposing the movie to people around the world

that might not otherwise see it.

I think that is the silver lining you gotta take from it.

- So how do you get a film like this

out to paying customers?

What's the marketing plan?

- Well aside from our publicist Clint Morris

and his gang over at--

- October Coast.

They work wonders for indie filmmakers

and we have a tight marketing budget

but we're gonna make every dollar count

through social media ad campaigns

and generous press coverage.

But ultimately there just aren't enough dollars

in a release like this

to guarantee a lot of butts in seats.

But what it can do is shine a spotlight on the film,

regardless of how much it does at the box office.

It can say hey look at us we're a little different.

Give us a chance.

- Well regardless of what it does at the box office

I'm really happy that you are doing what you dream.

- Thanks Tami.

- I wanna open it up for some questions

for the audience now.

So yes, you.

[people chattering]

- Hey Nicholas.

- Hey.

- I'm Michael.

- Hey man.

- [Michael] Hey nice to meet you.

- Yeah you too you too.

- [Michael] And great movie.

- Oh thanks I appreciate that.

- Look I know you're going to get bombarded tonight

so I just wanted to put a buzz in your ear real quick.

I'm working on directing my first feature and

well we're stuck.

At some point I'd love to get together

and talk with you about producing.

Maybe help get it off the ground.

- Yeah totally man yeah.

Email me the script I'd love to take a look at it.

- Yeah?

- [Nick] Yeah totally.

- Hi could you sign this please?

- Sure.

Get me that script alright?

- Yeah? - Yeah.

- Cool thanks.

- Oh what's it called?

- Second Nature.

- Alright I'll look out for it.

- Cool.

- Alright let's get you this signature.

So you liked the movie?

- Yeah I really did.

- Are you lying?

- No I actually really liked it.

- Alright cool.

Here you go.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for coming.

- [Man] You know I heard the director's kind of an asshole.

- Have you worked with him before?

- No.

- He can be pretty difficult to work with sometimes,

I'll say that.

- The movie wasn't even that good.

People are freaking out like it's an Oscar party.

- Hey would you like me to sign that?

- Who are you?

- Hey Mr. Gyeney.

- Hey.

- Hey I just wanted to say thank you for that film.

- Oh, sure.

- For an indie action movie that blew me away.

- Oh man thanks.

Glad you liked it.

- Of course.

If you don't mind

I was just hoping you might have some advice

for an aspiring filmmaker like me

to have the same kind of success that you've had.

- You just gotta never give up, man.

[sighing]

[lighter clicks]

- Really dude?

- Dude I'm nervous.

- And why weren't you nervous before the movie?

- I just thought of it now okay back off.

- Well, that was pretty fucking amazing.

- They really liked it right?

- [Edi] Such a good feeling to see that.

- And I'm just glad I got to be a part of it.

- Of course man.

But remember guys this is the world premiere.

This is no doubt the best reception

we're gonna get on this thing.

I mean it was all friends and family

and people who want to see us succeed.

- Oh my God will you shut up

and let us have this moment please?

Damn.

- Let me ask you guys a question.

- Wait.

- Relentless.

- Okay.

- Am I difficult to work with?

- I've heard people say that before.

- Yeah.

Me too.

- But I honestly don't really get it.

You ask people for their best

because that's what the film needs.

- I think,

I mean,

this is Seattle right?

And you Nick are a very honest direct guy.

Some people just don't know how to deal with that.

How many times have we sat there hiring these guys

and we say we can only afford one rate

and this is all we can do

and they take the job anyway

and then when we hear them complain

because they're slacking off

or because we ask them to work harder,

it's like dude, you took the job.

Do the freaking job you know?

- It's not like I go Christian Bale on anybody.

- [Edi] Yeah.

- High expectations, I guess.

- I think it might have to do with

when I've seen you get pissed off on set.

Granted, it was only a couple of times.

That's all it takes.

The crew really doesn't get why you're mad.

They just see the director yelling at somebody.

It makes you look like a dick.

- I mean I try hard not to get angry on set.

But if someone's going around me,

making decisions they're not supposed to be making,

not doing what we hired them to do,

it is really hard for me not to call them out.

It's just tough to be the nice guy

in situations like that you know?

I try and swallow it but.

- On one hand, you feel bad that you can't pay everybody

through the roof for their work right?

- Yeah I do.

- But then you also ask them to work their asses off

because I mean if they don't the whole production suffers.

- And the movie.

- And that trickles down the line

to getting future projects made.

- It's the big picture.

What?

- Dude, that was deep.

- Hey.

Brains and brawn ladies.

[laughing]

- [Scott] This guy.

- You know I was just thinking about it.

A lot of people don't focus on building that relationship.

They don't see the opportunity of working hard for less now.

I mean isn't that so obviously the goal?

- Edi.

A lot of the crew here don't have that luxury

because of how little work there is here.

They gotta pay their bills.

That takes priority over everything, including doing favors.

- And a lot of us have been burned by empty promises.

- I think you're just gonna be dealing with people

thinking that you're difficult until the money's flowing.

More money's gonna equal better crew

and hopefully better attitudes too.

- Comes with the territory I guess.

- Bullshit on that but, yeah.

- The door swings both ways.

Beat them at their own game.

We don't have the money to pay what people deserve.

So if you're worried about being seen as the asshole

next time somebody slacks,

try to be more aware of that.

Instead of calling somebody out publicly

in front of the crew, pull them aside.

- Yeah you're right.

Easier said than done.

But you're right.

Sometimes in the moment [growls]

I know I gotta work on it.

I am working on it.

My ongoing struggle.

- What brought that up?

- Actually overheard some guys talking about it.

- Awkward.

- But you know there actually was

a nice little punctuation after that.

This aspiring filmmaker came up to me

and he started with the same old story.

Congratulations for all your success.

Tell me your secret blah blah blah.

But then I had a moment.

I was about to jump into my usual rant

about the meaning of true success

and how we're no closer to where we wanna be with this film.

But then I stopped and I looked at this guy.

And all I could say was, never give up.

- That's because you can't.

And you won't.

- Yeah.

I can't.

Because the alternative.

- Yeah you know that's great and all.

But we can't be doing this

without paying the bills you know.

Not trying to be a Negative Nancy here guys--

- I'm just saying that I don't know if I could.

I just want it too bad.

Maybe this is the kinda crazy it takes.

- Well I for one love your crazy Nick.

I'm with you.

- Whoa

LA number.

- Must be important calling at this hour.

- Hello this is Edi.

Yeah I'll let him know

and I'll have him get back to you tomorrow.

Great awesome.

Thank you.

Alright have a good night.

Yes!

That was Lauren Holly's agent man.

- [Scott] You shut up.

- Lauren Holly?

- You know Dumb and Dumber, Beautiful Girls,

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Down Periscope.

- Oh Samsonite.

I was way off.

- Dude she is in.

- Holy shit.

- [Edi] Yeah.

- Nick loves her.

- Shut up.

- Hey Scott you gotta get a close up on

this guy's Oscar winning hard on.

- Come on stop that shit.

- So she's coming to town and she wants

to meet the director himself.

- Awesome.

- Never give up, right?

- I guess so.

Shoot her agent an email.

I know the perfect spot.

- Nick.

- What?

No.

- Dude.

- No.

- Come on.

- You better be invisible.

- I will be so invisible, alright?

- Fine.

- Alright, alright, alright.

[dramatic music]

- Hi I'm Lauren.

- Hey I'm Nick.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- So, what made you pick this place?

- Oh, I grew up in the area

so I just figured I'd give you a little taste of home.

Thanks so much for meeting with me, by the way.

- Oh yeah of course it was easy, I was in town.

- Right right.

- [Lauren] What are you drinking?

- Oh, okay.

Let's do, just give me like a red blend.

Surprise me.

- One secret special surprise blend on the way.

- [Nick] Alright.

- So, I read the script.

- Okay.

- I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for thinking of me for the part.

- Of course, yeah.

You know I think it might have been the Dragon connection.

My dad was a huge fan of you in that movie, huge.

We watched that so many times, can't even remember.

Thanks.

- Well, whatever made you think of me, it's great.

The script has a bit of everything

and I get to be bad which I really enjoy.

- You know actually that's exactly why I thought

you'd be so right for the villain in this

because we're going to be taking that bad

and taking it to a whole other level

with "The Red Vision," you know?

And seeing you as this demon corrupted tortured soul.

I dunno, I think it'll be a lot of fun.

I think it'll be perfect.

Perfect.

You know, it's actually a little funny,

us meeting right now.

- Oh yeah?

- Yeah.

If you don't mind me being a little open book with you.

- No, of course.

- It's just kind of an interesting time.

My team and I have worked really hard

to build our name in the Northwest and Seattle

but it's always just fallen a little short of what I want,

which is to be where you are.

I mean I guess any filmmaker in my position

would say the same thing.

- And where is that?

Oh.

On the inside.

- Yeah, yes.

The inside, exactly.

And we just made this little indie action movie,

Beta Test.

We actually had the world premiere last night.

- Cool.

- And it was a lot of fun.

The audience loved it, people were having a good time.

But the movie didn't get into an A-list festival

and I know that because it didn't

the ceiling for the movie and for me because of the movie,

is only gonna be so high.

And any indie filmmaker on the outside, like me,

who knows anything about this business will tell you

that getting into one of those elite festivals,

that's what it takes to get the inside to see you.

- Well, we might have a shot with this one.

- It's just tough because I keep seeing

all these filmmakers my age blowing up

with their first or their second feature, you know?

At some point I start wondering if

I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

- Yeah.

We've all been there.

But you know even when you're making it

the struggle never stops.

When you're on the inside and working all the time,

there's a lot that you miss.

You can't plan a vacation, make a funeral or a wedding.

You miss time with your family and your friends.

You give up a lot.

Your schedule's not your own.

- I'm sorry to bother you.

We don't get a lot of celebrities in here.

- Oh that's okay, did you want an autograph?

[laughing]

I'm just kidding, I'm kidding.

Of course.

- Would you mind taking a quick picture with me?

- Of course.

Okay, how do you wanna do this?

- Maybe you take a selfie and I'll be behind you.

- That sounds really creepy.

[laughing]

Alright.

I got you.

- Okay.

- Alright.

Oh, we have a director here.

Nick?

- Yes.

Do you have a rag or something?

Yes, perfect.

Drape that over your shoulder,

come a little closer to the bar.

If you're gonna take a picture with a bartender,

he might as well be Tom Cruise from Cocktail, right?

- Got it.

- Right, okay.

- Okay so I just press this one right?

- No it's upside down.

[laughing]

- Typical, okay.

There you go.

- [Bartender] Thank you so much.

- You bet.

I hope it doesn't haunt me.

- What are you talking about?

You look great.

- No just because pictures now they're on the internet.

So are the online trolls.

- Yeah I understand.

I grew up the fat kid so I hate like half my pictures.

[chuckling]

Granted nobody knows who I am.

- I kinda envy that.

I mean, you have freedom now

to make the kind of art that you want.

I know you're struggling trying to figure out

how to finance your movies

or wondering when your bank account's gonna run out

but you know, you have passion and drive.

That's what made me wanna work with you.

You know in the world today there are all these

Instagram stars and YouTubers famous for nothing.

You're a reminder that there are artists out there

fighting for their dream.

It's refreshing.

And it's that passion, that drive,

that tells me that you're gonna get

your shot at being noticed.

The thing is,

you never know when you're gonna get that chance,

so you have to think of it this way.

Everyday you're in training.

You're in training for that title shot.

- Rocky didn't beat Apollo Creed until Rocky II.

- Exactly.

- Still doesn't make it easy though you know?

I've directed four features.

- You've directed four features.

That's amazing.

Nick, the goal of this business is not a splashy start.

It's sustaining the momentum.

It's longevity.

We get to make a career from doing something that we love.

We make movies, that's so cool.

I'm so grateful for that.

Now

I know that maybe your first four features

didn't get you on the inside,

but I bet you had the time of your life making them.

- Yeah I did.

Happiest I've ever been.

Most stressed I've ever been.

[laughing]

But the happiest was making those movies.

- Everybody has their own path.

Here's to being grateful that we get to do it again.

To The Red Vision.

[upbeat music]

- [Scott] I hope they're all ready for rehearsal.

[ominous music]

- What's going on?

Where's Sean?

- I sent him home.

- Why?

- So,

I talked to my partners today.

I wanted to make one last deal before I sold my shares.

You know, drive up the value.

But the deal went sideways today.

If I sell now, I couldn't even cover half of what we need.

- I just walked out of one of the best meetings of my life.

Now what am I supposed to tell her, that it's over?

- I'm sorry.

- How long have you known about this?

Come on, Yuji.

- I suspected for a couple of weeks.

- Oh goddamn it.

- But there was nothing solid.

There was still a chance it could bounce back.

- So what the hell am I supposed to tell everyone?

Do you have any idea how embarrassing?

The guys have been working for free for weeks.

Everyone in Seattle knows we're making this movie.

You should have told me.

- Yeah.

- And?

- And

I couldn't.

- Why the fuck not, Yuji?

- Because.

Because I believed in this project.

I thought it was something really special.

I didn't want to let you guys down.

I hoped that it would right itself but,

we'll get it going somehow.

There's gotta be another way.

- Fuck.

- Hey man hey, glad I caught you.

Look dude we gotta go over some numbers.

I've been going over it with

the special effects team, with the stunt team.

This long take car chase is just

not gonna be doable on this budget man.

- What?

- I know that you've been wanting to up your game

from the last long take but I just,

look we only got one chance at this.

- What did you say?

- We gotta say no on this, dude.

I don't know what else to do--

- Shut up, Edi.

Shut up. - What?

What?

- I'm sick of this bullshit.

- What?

- This.

- What the fuck dude?

- I'm so sick of people saying no to me.

I've been hearing no my whole life.

No Nick you're not smart enough.

No Nick you're not good enough.

No Nick we can't afford this.

No Nick your

dad is never coming home.

- What the hell was that?

- I don't know.

- Get that out of my face.

- You think I could get a ride?

Hey.

- [Edi] I called the guys.

They're almost here.

[contemplative music]

- I asked you guys to take a leap of faith with me

for the sake of this crazy dream.

Dream, what the hell is that?

I throw that word out a lot.

To me it's everything but I can't expect that to be yours.

I kept getting away with it.

We'd start work,

the money would fall into place.

The other shoe finally dropped.

[sighing]

I should not have let us start work

until all the money was in.

I was over zealous,

and now we're all out of work.

No matter how much I want it

I cannot gamble with people's lives.

Buy yourselves a drink or something.

Sorry guys.

- Nick.

Yo Nick.

Nick.

Come on man you know.

You know how hard I've been struggling with this.

The Red Vision, that was my last real shot

and I can't keep following you looking to strike gold.

I gotta worry about me.

I'm sorry, man.

[dramatic music]

- Bill I got all sorts of people on the line for this

but I want to work with friends.

You're a friend.

We're friends.

I like friends.

I like friends as opposed to people who are not friends.

And you know what what I mean.

I got some people I don't like very much

and they might give me the dough.

But I prefer it to be you.

And it's safe and sound my man.

As safe as you're gonna get.

My boy Nicholas doesn't mess around.

He develops these projects strong.

We're talking M. Night Genie Junior here.

Yeah and we got some great names on board.

You know, Lauren Holly.

Yeah.

The girl from Dumb and Dumber, right.

Yeah, that's right, "Samsonite."

We were way off.

Yeah, I hear you.

- For the first time I'm really scared

of what's coming around the corner.

- Hey Bill can I put you on hold for a quick second?

I gotta repackage something.

Give me just a second okay.

- Maybe this is as good as it gets.

Struggling to make every movie work.

Until my back gives out.

- Sometimes the universe comes around

in a way we don't want it to.

But maybe we just don't understand.

You know, we don't know what's happening yet.

I'm on the line right now

with a guy that's an inch away

from pulling the trigger on a few shares, maybe more.

And we don't just give up when we're knocked down right?

Or should I just hang up on Bill and dream a little smaller?

Maybe The Red Vision isn't ready.

Maybe now isn't the time.

Doesn't mean the time won't come

but maybe right now

there's something else.

Yeah, Bill, you there?

Billy, my main man, Billy.

I missed you.

Alright so what're we doing?

Are we gonna make some magic or what?

[somber music]

[phone chiming]

- [Nick] Hey man.

- [Erik] Hey, got a sec?

- [Nick] Sure.

- [Erik] You think you could swing by my studio for a few?

- [Nick] Yeah I'll head over.

- Thanks.

Come on in.

- You going somewhere?

- I took tonight as a sign.

I don't think we ever talked about

what I did before special effects.

See my dad,

he's always been pretty conservative.

The military will do that to you.

Thanks.

He wanted me to get a real job,

so I tried.

[sighing]

- You know I don't do that stuff.

- I thought tonight would make a pretty good exception.

[sighing]

I wanted to fucking kill myself in that suit and tie.

Desk job.

Something was missing you know?

And then I discovered this world.

And you know what?

It saved me.

I found purpose.

And a family with you guys.

But

tonight was definitely a sign that

if I'm gonna make this work,

I gotta go out on my own, stake my claim.

- I hear you man.

[contemplative music]

You know when my dad died it drove me.

I was only 12 years old.

Cardiac arrest during a soccer game.

No one saw it coming.

I had to grow up overnight.

No more time to be a kid for mom and sis.

- I know man.

I'm sorry.

- He loved movies.

Every Sunday was father son movie day.

When he died I realized

it was the movies that got me through.

Not over it but through.

That's when I knew.

If movies could help me get through the loss of my father,

maybe I could make one one day that could help someone else.

[suspenseful music]

I guess in a way both our dads made us who we are right?

You know I lived in LA for seven years.

But after film school I just had to get out.

I'd be at the grocery store

and everybody in line in front of me

was a writer, director, producer, actor,

somebody trying to make it.

I was a little fish in a big damn pond.

So I thought, why not try the opposite approach?

Why not move somewhere where I could be

the bigger fish in a smaller pond?

In some ways that worked, some ways didn't.

- Not yet.

- Not yet.

Maybe LA will work for you better than it did for me.

I admire the risk.

I just hope that when The Red Vision

does get up and running again,

that you'll come back.

And help us finish what we started.

[suspenseful music]

- [Woman] You're home.

- Yeah.

[suspenseful music]

[phone buzzing]

[suspenseful music]

[calm music]

- Alright buddy thanks for coming in.

- Thank you.

[phone chiming]

- Hey buddy.

- [Sean] Hey man how's it going?

- [Nick] Could be better, I guess.

- Yeah.

It'll work out.

- Yeah I'm sure something will, come up.

What's up man?

- So two things.

I just wanted to call

because I just walked out of an audition.

- Oh yeah how did that go?

- It went great man, really good.

- So same old same old?

- No they gave me the part right there.

Hi I'm Sean Ferguson

and I'll be reading for the part of Sam.

- Did you prepare a monologue for us?

- Yes I'll actually be doing a scene

from one of my favorites, Good Will Hunting.

- Alright.

Whenever you're ready.

- Dude that's awesome man, congrats.

- It's a small part in an indie feature but I got it.

- It's really good to hear that man.

- [Sean] But I wanted to thank you.

- [Nick] Oh yeah?

- You were right.

You gotta put in the work and keep trying.

- And what was the other thing?

- Oh.

Remember that homeless guy?

- From the coffee shop?

- [Sean] Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Well guess who was auditioning right before me.

- No way.

- Yup.

Anyway I just wanted to call and thank you for pushing me,

and him.

- You can always count on me to be the asshole you need.

- Yeah.

Later buddy.

[calm music]

- Hey man.

- Hey.

You ready?

- Actually do you wanna come inside for a minute?

I gotta finish logging some footage.

- Sure, okay.

Wow.

That is a lot of storage.

What is that?

- This is footage from the meeting you had.

- Oh really can you show me, can you play it?

- Yeah sure.

- You're a reminder that there are artists

out there fighting for their dream.

It's refreshing.

And it's that passion, that drive that tells me that

you're gonna get your shot at being noticed.

The thing is, you never know

when you're gonna get that chance.

- Any other quick clips you can show me?

- [Erik] Politics are the problem.

[laughing]

We're just not making the movies

that the big A-list festivals wanna see.

You know, it's like we haven't cracked the code.

- [Nick] No I don't buy that I don't.

[calm music]

- All these drives

are footage you shot of us?

- Yep.

Doing our thing.

A lot of great stuff in there,

a lot of great memories.

- You were never just practicing were you?

- Something in me just had to capture

all this stuff we've been going through.

I don't know.

Strange isn't it?

[calm music]

- Holy shit.

- [Scott] What?

- Scott.

- [Scott] What?

- You're a genius.

- I am?

- We need to pack up these drives

and we need to get to Jay's.

- What?

- Yeah.

[calm music]

[phone ringing]

- Hello?

- Hey Jay.

I hope you're not busy.

Scott and I are headed over

- Okay.

- [Nick] It's a surprise.

- [Jay] Okay what is this exactly?

- See you in a sec.

- Try not to freak out.

The guys are coming over.

I don't know exactly what's going on

but I just had a call and--

[thumping]

Whoa.

- Hey grab a box of these drives and load them up alright?

- Okay.

- Alright.

Let's see what we got.

Edi and Sean should be here.

They should see this.

Hey guys.

- I mean the reality is

it doesn't matter if this movie makes money or it doesn't.

- Alright guys.

- [Edi] The problem is the people

at the top ain't seeing it.

- Okay.

- [Nick] There are really only two ways

for outsiders to make it in this business.

- What is this?

- [Scott] This is all my footage.

- Blow up on the festival circuit with a little movie.

- Holy shit.

- Anything else is just working to survive.

And that's not the dream.

- When you're on the inside and working all the time,

there's a lot that you miss.

- Genius.

- Yeah.

Holy shit.

- Never give up right?

[dramatic music]

- And I stopped and I looked at this guy

and all I could say was,

"Never give up."

- [Edi] Yo Scott when are you gonna

make that spaghetti again man?

- [Scott] Man soon soon.

I need a little bit of a break though.

- Hey what up Yuji?.

- Yuji.

- Mr. Z, on the house.

- You mean you sold your house for that right?

[laughing]

- [Scott] Hey can we get some of those nachos on layaway?

- Oh Scott.

- Oh come on that was good.

- It was terrible. - That was good.

- Well it is official.

"Beta Test" has been pirated over three million times.

- [Scott] Jesus.

- [Sean] Oh.

- It would be just our damn luck

if we forgot to submit the damn movie today too.

- [Scott And Jay] You shut your mouth.

[laughing]

[phone buzzing]

- [Scott] What's going on?

- Submission confirmed.

- Submission is confirmed oh my God.

- Now we can drink to that.

- Hey we did something right.

- Cheers fellas.

- [Sean And Yuji] Cheers.

- And one more to our departed Erik.

- [Scott] Cheers.

- Erik died?

- No.

He departed.

To LA.

- Oh right. - Really dude?

[laughing]

- [Scott] Making the sequel already.

- I need a shot.

Who's joining me?

- [Edi And Jay] Yuji's taking a shot.

- Dude, get this.

- I got it choir boys.

[phone chiming]

- Hey Nick, I just wanted to call

and tell you I just finished watching Ultra Low

and I wanted to say congratulations.

And no matter what happens with it,

if it gets you on the inside or not,

you should be very proud of what you've done.

Don't forget that.

Alright well I can't wait to see you soon

to finally take on The Red Vision.

Alright, later.

[suspenseful music]

[ball bouncing]

- You ready?

[dramatic music]